My invention relates to electrophoretic transfer processes in which a substance is transferred from a carrier material to a receiving material in contact with the carrier material. It is particularly but not exclusively applicable to the transfer printing of patterns on textile materials. A process of this type is disclosed in U.S. Pats. Nos. 3,145,156 and 3,409,528.
During such transfer processes, an electric field is applied to the carrier and receiving materials, in a direction normal to their surfaces. This promotes the travel of the substance to be transferred in this direction, without at the same time promoting its lateral travel. Thus, when a pattern is being transferred to the receiving material, the sharpness of the pattern is largely maintained but the penetration depth of particles of different sizes is unequal. As a consequence the symptom occurs that after having performed the method the dyestuffs are present at different levels in the receiving material. A somewhat different transfer process without using an electric field is disclosed in British Pat. No. 1,284,824.